Startup Triumph Bank Works To Fill Desired Market Niche

The Daily News (Memphis, TN)
Date: Friday, December 1, 2006
Vol. 121, No. 232
Page: 1
ZACHARY ZOELLER | The Daily News
zzoeller@memphisdailynews.com

ON NEW HQ: Triumph Bank CEO Will Chase conducts a staff meeting at the bank's temporary headquarters in Germantown Tuesday. The bank's new headquarters will open at Poplar and I-240 in mid-January. -- PHOTO BY ZACHARY ZOELLER

If Memphis is a pond, and mega-banks such as SunTrust Banks, Wachovia Corp. and Regions Financial Corp. are whales, then local startup Triumph Bank is a goldfish.

Sometimes, a little fish can make its gargantuan counterparts look like fish out of water.

While some bigger banks might use computers and automated systems to evaluate borrowers, Triumph's board of directors is one that personally reviews its potential customers, said CEO Will Chase.

"What (a computer) doesn't take into consideration are character, integrity, business experience and a lot of other things," Chase said.

Triumph prides itself as being a community bank, in contrast to a huge company whose management in many cases may work and live in a distant city.

"If you come here and look in the board room, that's where the people sit. That's where the decisions are made," he said.

Into the void

The idea for Triumph was born in 2004, during a time when many banks were being swallowed up by larger companies. In that year, SunTrust bought National Bank of Commerce, Wachovia bought SouthTrust Corp. and Regions bought Union Planters Corp., representing several of the many mergers that year.

"The idea came from the number of acquisitions taking place in the Memphis banking market, which essentially moved a lot of the decision-making away from Memphis and to these banks," said Mike McCarver, Triumph's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "That essentially created a void for community banking here in Memphis."

McCarver and Chase came from Renasant Bank, which was bought by Tupelo, Miss.-based Peoples Holding Co. in 2004, while retaining the Renasant name.

Triumph opened in June of this year at 2171 Judicial Drive in Germantown, the 4,400-square-foot office formerly occupied by First Capital Bank.

Triumph Bancshares Inc. was given regulatory approval of its charter to proceed in the organization of Triumph Bank on Jan. 31 by the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions. Bank organizers raised $20.3 million in capital from 437 shareholders before opening June 5. From June until October, it issued 120 notes to borrowers, and today it has $25 million available for loans, Chase said.

Triumph has 13 members on its board of directors, chaired by B. Lane Carrick, who is also chairman and CEO of Sovereign Wealth Management Inc.

Moving on up

Construction of Triumph's new location at Poplar Avenue and I-240 began in September, and its opening is scheduled for the middle of January.

In Belz Enterprises' Poplar Pointe retail center on the former site of the Ridgeway Inn, it will serve as Triumph's new corporate headquarters as well as a full-service branch.

Triumph employs 22 at this time and initially will hire seven tellers to help staff the East Memphis location, McCarver said.

The exterior of the two-story, 7,500-square-foot building was designed by Renaissance Group and the interior by Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects. The high visibility of Poplar and I-240 made the location a prime spot for the bank.

""We were looking for something that would distinguish us from other banks in terms of locations," Chase said. "It's the marquee location in Shelby County."

Also, by locating in the geographic heart of the Memphis area, it visibly expresses that the bank has a connection to the community, he said. "We wanted to make a statement that we are local people and we are investing here."

Triumph also is aware of the economic power in the suburbs, as it plans to open four additional offices in the greater Memphis area in the next three to five years. It is currently looking at Collierville, Germantown, Bartlett and the Midtown/Poplar Plaza areas. While Triumph will operate a handful of branches, each location will be staffed by a senior lending officer to structure loans.

"We have a little different operating philosophy (than larger banks)," Chase said. "It doesn't require a massive branch network."

Touch someone

Much of today's banking is tied to technology, such as the use of the Internet in paying bills and cashing checks. That concept was so much on the minds of Triumph's organizers that they hired accounting and advising firm Reynolds, Bone & Griesbeck PLC as technology consultants.

"Banks touch customers in four different ways: tellers, phone, ATM (automated teller machines) and the Internet," McCarver said.

One of the bank's electronic services is the Remote Deposit Capture, which allows a customer to make deposits remotely by scanning checks and sending them electronically to the bank. This particular feature is important to Bedson Corp., vendor of industrial cleaning equipment, which has been a Triumph customer since June, said Bedson co-owner Bill McWatters.

Because of Bedson management's familiarity with David Gross, Triumph's executive vice president and senior commercial lender, the company began doing business with the startup bank.

McWatters also uses Triumph for consulting, which gives him valuable outside perspectives on his business, he said.

"They're good people to bounce ideas off of. We're a small business and we have things presented to us from time to time and we need another set of eyes and ears," he said.

-Contact Zachary Zoeller at 523-1561 ext. 141, or zzoeller@memphisdailynews.com